At the Palais de justice in Paris, the defendants of the attacks of November 13, 2015 speak one last time this Monday, June 27, before the court delivers its verdict on June 29. Some civil parties are already worried about the aftermath.
On the benches of the press, some are already showing a little nostalgia. In a few minutes, Salah Abdeslam’s lawyers will take the stand one after the other to deliver their closing arguments, the last of the defence. The only surviving member of the Saint-Denis and Paris commandos and his 13 co-defendants will then speak one last time on Monday, before the specially constituted Assize Court retires to deliberate and deliver its verdict on the evening of 29 June.
It will then be the end of these ten months of hearing, of this trial described as “out of the ordinary”, of the security gates that must be crossed at the entrance to the palace, of the hellos exchanged with the gendarmes, of the ” the hearing is resumed, please be seated of the president of the court Jean-Louis Périès, impressions shared after a moving testimony or a powerful argument. ” It’s weird “, admits a journalist. Some legal reporters will meet on September 5 for the trial of the Nice attack or the following month in Brussels to cover that of the attacks of March 22, 2016 in the Belgian capital. But for the civil parties of November 13, it will be different.
” It’s gonna be a huge slap »
Guillaume, survivor of the Bataclan, keeps from this trial the feeling of having been well surrounded. ” We are with people who, when they talk to me, only see me. If I talk about the attacks, they don’t see the person who suffered them, but only me. Because they went through the same thing. We have nothing to justify “, he testifies at the microphone of Moissonniere Marine. For professional reasons, Guillaume was only able to attend the trial three times. But other civil parties come regularly, some even every day.
” We meet at the end of the hearing, we’ll have a drink afterwards. There are habits that have been created. Friendships, links, exchanges, love, a lot of love, smiles Catherine Bertrand, also a survivor of the Bataclan. Going from that, something extremely intense to nothing, yes, that can be scary for some people. “A fear of the void that Me Stéphane Maugendre, lawyer for civil parties, finds perfectly legitimate. ” Given the facts, the horror, the length of the investigation and the debates, that we be present at the hearing or on the internet radio or simply to follow it from afar, it’s going to be a huge slap and you’ll have to prepare for it “, he warns.
The French Association of Victims of Terrorism has planned to organize a meeting the day after the verdict. To better live the aftermath, it will offer the victims of the attacks of November 13 to accompany the civil parties of the Nice trial.